Authorities in Bangladesh began relief operations on Wednesday after rain-triggered landslides killed at least 137 people in the country's south-east, officials said.
The government pledged to provide essential support to help victims overcome the disaster, senior minister Obaidul Quader told a meeting in Rangamati hill district after distributing cash and food support to the families of those killed in the landslides.
Quader, the second in command in the ruling Awami League party, also ordered an assessment of damages to homes and crops, said disaster management official Harun-ur Rashid.
Rescuers pulled at least 100 bodies from beneath chunks of mud that buried hillside homes at different parts of Rangamati, said Rashid. The death toll may rise as disaster response teams began a second day of rescue operations in the remote areas, he added.
Thirty-one people were killed in neighbouring Chittagong and six in Bandarban, following 48 hours of incessant rains that lasted until Tuesday, according to the disaster management control room in Dhaka.
Local officials had previously reported the death toll in Bandarban as seven.
More than 4,000 people who lost their homes were evacuated to shelters run by the local administrations.
Bangladesh's meteorological department forecast more rain in the hilly region for Wednesday after the country experienced heavy monsoon rains Monday due to a depression in the Bay of Bengal.
Meteorologist Meghnath Tunchangya warned that heavy rains may trigger further landslides in the hilly areas.
The disaster came less than two weeks after tropical cyclone Mora killed eight people and damaged thousands of homes along the south-eastern coast of Bangladesh.
